Become a Fan

August 11, 2008

Non-Rectangular Viewports

Today's tip is on another "new-to-LT" feature: non-rectangular viewports (also known as polygonal viewports).

There are three ways to create a non-rectangular viewport in LT 2009:

Draw it from scratch.
(MVIEW command, Polygonal option.) If you want to draw the outline & convert it to a viewport in one step, this is the command for you.

Convert an existing object into a viewport.
(MVIEW command, Object option.) If you already have your object drawn, you can use this option. This is also useful for creating circular or elliptical viewports, which can't be created with poyline segments.

Clip an existing viewport with a non-rectangular object.
(VPCLIP command.) This option combines the first two, in that you start with a rectangular viewport and a non-rectangular object (poyline, circle, whatever), and you end up with one viewport in the shape of your non-rectangular object. The command also contains an option to draw the clipping boundary on the fly, if you haven't already created it.

If you're not on LT 2009 yet, you can still use non-rectangular viewports if someone else (with full AutoCAD) creates them for you. You can move them, copy them, resize them, and even change their shape with PEDIT -- you just can't create new ones.